The causes of ADD are still not completely clear. Scientists are investigating the brain for clues, and possible causes could be:

• Genetic factors: ADD runs in families with a high occurrence of the symptoms. ADD prone children will easier develop symptoms when triggered by the environment, so is thought.

• Imbalance in the area of neurotransmitters in the brain: Children with ADD symptoms are shown to have a lack of certain chemicals, which cause a faulty transmission of signals in the neurological system which helps the brain to organise it’s environmental input.

It is thought that the social environment is not causing ADD, although there are many possible factors which could be contributing to the development of symptoms. ADD seems to be possibly influenced by a wide array of factors as video games, fluorescent lights, poor schools, poor parenting, immunizations, watching too much TV etc. Probably, for children with a special sensitivity, these factors can lead to the onset of the symptoms. ADD in itself is probably not caused by these factors, the child will first have to have the genetic set-up to be able to develop symptoms.

What I have found in Josh’ case, that there are certainly some environments which make the symptoms worse. When she went to school, she often complained about the noise the other kids were making. Mind you, she was in a classroom with 6 children! I try to give her peace and rest when she is at home, she can play for hours with her Barbies in her own-made Barbie house. We never have music or the TV on on the background, the music installation is only used when she sings her Karaoke songs. She often puts the volume really low, because loud noise hurts her ears and feels bad. We stopped watching TV altogether when she was 5, because even the Teletubbies were upsetting her: she was considerably more agitated and restless after having watched TV (or a video or DVD.)

At the moment, the balance is more or less OK, even though she can be disturbed very easily. Things which throw her off balance are, amongst others:

• Crowds

• Teachers who yell at her or at the other kids

• Teachers who are too much of a perfectionist for her

• Sugar and chemical additives in her food

• Lack of sleep

• Low blood sugar level (not enough regular meals and snacks)

• Too much activity: going out, shopping)

• Changes in the house: visitors, building a new terrace

• Deaths of pets (her favourite Guinea pig died more than a year ago, she can still cry about that)

• Too much stress from school related tasks (we are doing homework in the holidays, I have to be very careful how I tell her how much she will have to do- overwhelm is around the corner)

• Excitement about things to come: she would love to get a donkey, and she can really get carried away by this idea – and when the donkey is not here the next day, she can be really upset and sad and depressed at the same time.

• Being turned down or “treated badly” by others, mind you: this is often mainly in her perception!

• Lack of attention, at home, in school, in sports, piano lessons. Anywhere she thinks she should get more attention.

In other kids, I know that the following factors can play a role in the onset of symptoms of ADD-like character:

• Having undetected learning disabilities like dyslexia: Kids are embarrassed and want to hide their problem, and this leads to problematic behaviour.

• Frequent and long lasting colds or allergic conditions which lead to a lack of oxygen

• Sleeping disorders

• Emotional or physical abuse

• Uncomfortable feelings in the legs due to a low muscle tone: this is prevalent in young boys when growing very fast.

• Hearing problems, either due to middle ear infections or mechanical problems

• Absences, due to miniature epileptic fits. A child will stare into space for a short time, and in the meantime will not hear or see anything. This can easily be mistaken for daydreaming.

• Side effects of drugs for other unrelated diseases

• Being too smart for the grade they’re in – leading to boredom and disruptive behaviour

• Not keeping up with the rest of the class – leading to struggle and frustration

• Big changes in life: divorce, moving home, death of a family member (including pets!)

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – whereby the trauma could be something small in adult eyes

• Depression

• Anxiety

Read on here